Dilemma: Right vs. Right
A Caseworker's Decision: Will Danny Survive, or Does He Need Help?
Returning to his desk one afternoon, Richard reviewed his options with some anxiety. As a caseworker in a community agency providing counseling and temporary shelter for abused and troubled youth, he had just visited the state human services office--without much success. His goal had been to persuade the state to accept custody for Danny, a 15-year-old boy whose parents were, in Richard's eyes, seriously abusive. The law on this point was, he felt, perfectly clear: Danny had the right to state guardianship if an investigation showed he was clearly in imminent danger.
But Janice, the state worker on duty that afternoon, felt otherwise. Reviewing the request, Janice told Richard that the state would not accept custody of Danny. As far as she could determine, Danny was not really in imminent danger of physical injury. And, at 15, he was better able to take care of himself than many others who were referred to her every day.
Richard knew it was a difficult decision for Janice. After all, she and he were in the business of social work because they cared about children like Danny. It was not her fault that, given recent budget cutbacks, priorities had tightened, excluding children who once would have qualified for state support. Still, he felt strongly that the potential danger for Danny was real and immediate. His responsibility, he knew, was to promote Danny's welfare.
Should he, then, try to pressure the department into accepting custody by appealing Janice's decision to her unit supervisor? If he appealed the decision, there was some chance that it would be overturned and that Danny would win state support. But Richard worked cooperatively with Janice and her co-workers on a regular basis. Would he jeopardize future relations--and maybe lose his effectiveness in cases far more serious than Danny's--if he challenged her decision?
Note: This and other dilemmas on this site come to you without their real-life resolutions. We encourage you to think for yourself about how you might resolve them, since the nature of each dilemma is highly individualistic. In sharing these dilemmas, we do not endorse them in any way, but rather offer them for your consideration.
